Controlled chaos descended upon the Lamb-Weston RDO plant Thursday afternoon as a simulated chemical spill brought all hands on deck.

The drill was required under the Department of Homeland Security, which wants counties and local governments to be prepared for any eventuality. Last year's tornado qualified as the "real deal" in emergency management training, said Dave W. Konshok, Hubbard County's Emergency Management Director.

The drill involved an imaginary ammonia leak within RDO's refrigeration system that injured six employees.

Responders, including ambulance personnel, an RDO team, the Hubbard County Sheriff's Department, the Park Rapids Police and Fire Departments and St. Joseph's Area Health Services, established an incident command group, monitored and coordinated the progress inside the plant, set up a perimeter, conducted an accountability of all plant personnel and assessed the greater impact of a large leak while evacuating, decontaminating and treating the injured.

The extensive drill was monitored by RDO employees, each agency and Konshok, which conducted a debriefing Friday morning to assess how it went.

Ryan said there were four engineers at RDO, and if the leak was real, they would notify the state and Environmental Protection Agency of estimated amounts of chemicals released.

The Fire Department set up a mobile decontamination tent outside the plant to douse firefighters who responded.

Numerous stretchers carried out the wounded.

The hour-long event ended with each agency hoping not to see the others under these circumstances.